1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the following areas of technology:
PRINTED MATTER--a label; PA0 PRINTED MATTER--having revealable concealed information, fraud preventer or detector, use preventer or detector, or identifier by removable material that is adhesively attached; PA0 PRINTED MATTER--Advertising; PA0 CHEMISTRY--adhesive coatings on sheets and products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cents-off coupons and other types of discount coupons are well know to grocery shoppers. Local newspapers print various grocery item coupons, which will be honored by most major supermarket chains. Coupons are also published in magazines, and are frequently mailed to households in mass mailings. The retail establishments that accept and honor these coupon then have to collate the coupons, and forward them to the manufacturer for reimbursement plus handling costs. Coupons come in various shapes, sizes and condition. The cashier accepts the coupons as they are presented to her at the check out line at a supermarket. The accepted coupons then have to be sorted and processed, which is very time consuming to the supermarket. It takes time for the cashier to read each coupon, credit the customer's cash register receipt for the amount stated on each coupon, and also ensure that the customer has purchased the product stated on the coupon. The cashier then places the redeemed coupons in a special drawer for sorting later.
Redemption stamps and stamp booklets also are well known in the art. Green Stamps were popular in the 1950's. Participating retail stores would display a decal or sign indicating that they would issue Green Stamps. Whenever a customer purchased goods at the store, the store would issue to the customer a quantity of Green Stamps, which would usually be based upon the purchase price of the goods. The Green Stamps were similar to postage stamps and had a glued backing that only had to be moistened to activate the adhesive ability of the stamps. The customer was supplied with Green Stamp redemption booklets, which contained a fixed number of blank pages for gluing the Green Stamps thereto. The object was to fill up several booklets with Green Stamps. The full booklets then could be redeemed at a Green Stamp redemption center. The redemption center would give the redeemer free goods in exchange for a certain number of booklets filled with Green Stamps. The system was funded by the retail stores, which purchased the Green Stamps from the redemption center. The participating stores believed that issuing Green Stamps increased their business, because customers would prefer to shop at a store that issued Green Stamps over a store that did not.